Nina Foch was another actress who had to flee to Broadway ("John Loves Mary" 423 performances) to prove her acting dedication - in Hollywood, even though she was terrific in "My Name is Julia Ross" she just wasn't given a go. "I Love a Mystery" is typical, a nice little noir and Foch was outstanding as the wife with a secret but Hollywood didn't seem to take any notice. "I Love a Mystery" had started life as a radio serial in 1939 and was about three friends who manage a detective agency and travel the world in search of adventure but when the movie was released it seemed only two of the friends made it to the silver screen.
When a flaming desert is almost spilled on a trio of men, Jefferson Monk (George MacCready) informs the others, two detectives, Jim Packard (Jim Bannon) and Doc Long (Barton Yarborough) that it was meant for him and explains a prediction that prophesies he will die in three days. Doc and Jim become his unofficial minders - they meet his invalid wife whose behaviour is calm and hysterical by turns. Monk tells of their travels in the Middle East and of a strange street musician with an eerie song who he encounters again back in New York. He is lured into a secret society where he finds that the face of their founder who died 1,000 years before is a mirror image of himself. The Leader begs Monk to sell him his head!!! - hence he is now running for his life!!
Jim is suspicious of Ellen Monk's (Foch) debilitating illness and he is not wrong as Ellen is up and walking around when she is sure no one is in the house. The plot thickens when the pegleg stalker is killed and the girl who had initially picked up Monk at the "Silver Samovar" is revealed as the stalker's daughter. But you know that with George McCready as the star, he is going to make everyone, both goodies and baddies, feel mighty uncomfortable!!
Introduced by a narrator as "The Decapitation of Jefferson Monk" this would have made a good series in "The Whistler" vein. Columbia made a tentative go at it with "The Devil's Mask" and "The Unknown" both from 1946 and both with Barton Yarborough and Jim Bannon - it's just a pity the studio didn't pursue it.
When a flaming desert is almost spilled on a trio of men, Jefferson Monk (George MacCready) informs the others, two detectives, Jim Packard (Jim Bannon) and Doc Long (Barton Yarborough) that it was meant for him and explains a prediction that prophesies he will die in three days. Doc and Jim become his unofficial minders - they meet his invalid wife whose behaviour is calm and hysterical by turns. Monk tells of their travels in the Middle East and of a strange street musician with an eerie song who he encounters again back in New York. He is lured into a secret society where he finds that the face of their founder who died 1,000 years before is a mirror image of himself. The Leader begs Monk to sell him his head!!! - hence he is now running for his life!!
Jim is suspicious of Ellen Monk's (Foch) debilitating illness and he is not wrong as Ellen is up and walking around when she is sure no one is in the house. The plot thickens when the pegleg stalker is killed and the girl who had initially picked up Monk at the "Silver Samovar" is revealed as the stalker's daughter. But you know that with George McCready as the star, he is going to make everyone, both goodies and baddies, feel mighty uncomfortable!!
Introduced by a narrator as "The Decapitation of Jefferson Monk" this would have made a good series in "The Whistler" vein. Columbia made a tentative go at it with "The Devil's Mask" and "The Unknown" both from 1946 and both with Barton Yarborough and Jim Bannon - it's just a pity the studio didn't pursue it.